The email was training exercise at BayCare to test whether or not the organization’s recent phishing training was successful.

PINELLAS COUNTY – An apparent email scam turned out to be a training exercise, according to the Pinellas County Tax Collector.

Earlier today (March 14), tax collector Charles Thomas warned residents about an email scam that said recipients have a traffic ticket and need to pay a fine. Thomas’ office had received calls from people who had received the email, which claimed it was from the Department of Motor Vehicles. The email stated that the recipient had a red light camera traffic violation and had 72 hours to pay the citation. Tax officials warned residents and contacted law enforcement officials and others about the “scam.”

Later today, the tax collector heard from the Clearwater Police Department that the email scam reported to our office from concerned residents was the result of an IT training exercise at BayCare to test whether or not the organization’s recent phishing training was successful.

A sample image of the email scam is below:

For information about the Pinellas Tax Collector, go to taxcollect.com.

Image of the scam email courtesy of the Pinellas County tax collector.